Last day for Top Marques Watches

The Second Edition of Top Marques Watches & Jewellery, which returned to the Hotel Hermitage’s Salle Belle Époque Thursday, ends today.

A spin-off of the world-renowned Top Marques Monaco – “a supercar show for the one percenters” – held in April, Top Marques Watches is the Principality’s only show dedicated solely to Haute Horlogerie and Jewellery under the patronage of HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, who inaugurated the event during a private visit Thursday.

Following the success of the launch event last year, an extra day has been added to the “Pop-Up” show. Open to the public (visit from 10 am to 7:30 pm Saturday), it gives watch connoisseurs, lovers of all things luxurious or simply the inquisitive a rare opportunity to see collections from some of the world’s most exclusive watch brands, such as the esteemed Swiss horologer Franck Muller and Greubel Forsey, creator of one of the rarest current-production timepieces, the Quadruple Tourbillon.

The event also provides the perfect backdrop for watch aficionados to discover some of the newest and most exciting names emerging in the world of haute horlogerie and jewellery.

Exhibitors Top Marques Watches & Jewellery, organised by the same team behind Top Marques Monaco, include the highly original timepiece designers Urwerk who “make art that tells the time”, and “niche brand” Maison Dewitt, from Geneva.

Meanwhile the world of jewellery is represented by some of its most creative and elegant contributors such as designers Elena Silvodaeva and Jasre, both from Monaco, as well as award-winning Austro-Swiss designer Claudia Schweitzer with her Design for Desire brand.

There’s also a display of rare, limited-edition high precision table clocks and marine chronometers from London-based Thomas Mercer, whose legacy firm had made one third of all of the world’s chronometers by 1980. The company, which supplied the chronometer Sir Ernest Shackleton used to navigate the Antarctica in 1914, was revived four years ago and now creates beautiful pieces for yachts and living spaces.

In association with private bank The Edmond de Rothschild Group, other partners of the Second Edition of Top Marques Watches & Jewellery include La Société des Bains de Mer, Monaco’s Department of Tourism and Conferences and Monegasque real estate agency Attol.

Top Marques Watches & Jewellery is open to the public from 10 am to 7:30 pm Saturday. Tickets for Top Marques Monaco 2017, which runs April 20-23 at the Grimaldi Forum, are now on sale.

Mark McFadden watches paint dry. Literally.
A self-taught artist from Falcarragh, Co Donegal, Mr McFadden spent the first part of his career working in bars and nightclubs on the Champs d’Élysées in Paris, and Monaco, but his childhood dream of becoming a painter was never far from his daytime thoughts.
In his late thirties, at the end of a shift at a bar, somewhere near the hour of 4 am, Mr McFadden knew it was time to hand in his notice. He did so the next morning.
His foray into art started in 2009 with a visit to an art supply shop in Italy, where he bought for the first time oils and canvases, and palette knives even though he had no idea how to use them.
His first attempt was trying to negotiate a 1.5 metre canvas. He picked up the palette knife to correct a stroke, and never put it down. He can have seven paintings on the go, and spends hours watching the layers dry.
“Within a year, I had my first exhibition with a dozen or so works at the Metropole Shopping Centre,” the long-time Monaco resident told Monaco Life. “I was finally going to answer the question: Could I be an artist?”
Ten years on, the answer is clear from Mr McFadden’s current month-long exhibition at the Gildo Pastor Centre, on 7 rue du Gabian, which runs until the last Friday in May.
The fifteen portraits and abstracts are a “cross-section of my earlier work”, with many familiar faces on the wall, including a large piece on Nelson Mandela.
“I work from photos, and spend a lot of time reading autobiographies and painting their images,” Mr McFadden explained, adding, “I love bringing a blank canvas to life with a face.”
Perhaps this “life” is what caught the eye of Prince Albert, who purchased a portrait of James Joyce at the Hôtel des Ventes during another event. “I was very flattered,” Mr McFadden said.
The Joyce painting was part of Mr McFadden’s Literary Greats Series that debuted in Dublin. The collection now has 16 works, including Oscar Wilde, WB Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, John and Colm Tóibín.
“As time goes on, I see my technique developing and I gain confidence in my ability as an artist,” Mr McFadden explained. “I am pleasantly surprised when I look at my work and think ‘I did that’.”
Mark McFadden’s exhibition is open from 9 am to 7 pm at the Gildo Pastor Centre until May 26.

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[caption id="attachment_15723" align="alignnone" width="800"] A Ferrari F355 will be at auction. Photo: Lothar Spurzem[/caption]
Artcurial, the Paris-based auction house, is again expanding its presence in Monaco, this time with a biannual auction of prestigious cars.
The first Artcurial Motorcars will take place on July 2, with more than 100 vehicles going under the hammer at the Grimaldi Forum. The event will alternate with the Le Mans Classic.
Artcurial currently holds auctions in the Principality in January and July, centred on jewellery and watches.
However, this will not be the first time Artcurial is involved in selling top-end cars in Monaco. In 2012, the auction house sold a number of vehicles from the Prince’s collection, and then in 2014 sold two cars that previously belonged to Maria Callas, among others, at a sale at the Hermitage.
Among the cars being offered this July will be a Ferrari F355 that once belonged to Jean-Paul Belmondo and a Porsche RSR that was previously owned by Johnny Halliday. The catalogue will be available by the end of May.
While Paris remains the centre of Artcurial’s focus, the sale in Monaco is an attempt to capture a new market, the company says.